Throw-off mechanism for printing presses



May 15, 1934. A Ll E ET A 1,959,209

THROW-OFF MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed March 22, 1935 4 Sheets-Shet 1 Abel Kluge and Eneval Kluge May 15, 1934. KLUGE ET AL 1,959,209

THROW-OFF MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed March 22, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 gwuemtow i5 9 Abel Klug'e and Eneval Kluge dttomqy May 15, 1934. A. KLUGE ET AL THROW-OFF MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed March 22, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 K G1 &6 n AE WWW/W May 15, 1934.

A. KLUGE El AL. 1,959,2fi9

THROW-OFF MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed March 22, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 54 L 6 gme'niow Abel Kluge and Eneval Kluge dummy Patented May 15, 1934 UNrren STATES PATENT @FFICE THROVV-OFF MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Application March 22, 1933, Serial No. 662,096

9 Claims.

Our invention relates to throw-off mechanisms for platen printing presses of the Gordon type. an object of the invention being to provide an improved throw-off mechanism for such presses,

the parts of which are designed and arranged to hold the back shaft of the press fixedly in its impression relation during the normal printing operation, whereby winking of the back shaft is entirely prevented.

Another object of our invention is to provide a mechanism of the present character, the operation of which, in the throwing off of the press, is rendered relatively easy and the resulting departure of the press parts from their norl .al relation is of limited extent.

A further object of the invention is to provide a throw-oil mechanism of the present character comprising a system of elements so arranged that the inking rollers and other press parts, upon be- 0 ing relatively shifted out of their normal relation in the throwing off of the closing press will have a retrograde motion, whereby the burden of the throwing ofi operation is diminished and any objectionable disposition of the press parts, espe- 5 cially the inking rollers, is avoided, as the press,

in thrown off condition, continues to run.

In prior mechanisms of the present character, winking of the back shaft has been to some extent minimized, but, to our knowledge, not wholly eliminated. To a limited extent only has advantage been taken ofthe movement of the press parts in augmenting the manual effort required in throwing oii the press. With the prior throw- .oii mechanisms, the departure of press parts 5 from their normal relation, in the throwing off of the closing press, has been attended with a progressive movement of said parts and this relative movement of parts, has been of such great extent as to render the throwing on operation exceedingly burdensome. Furthermore, such relative movement of the press parts has resulted in objectionable departures from normal operating cycles.

Our invention, as will be seen, provides for entirely eliminating the winking of the back shaft during the normal operation of a press in printing. In a novel way, the invention effectively minimizes the relative shifting of the press parts when the press is being thrown 011 during the closing thereof. It puts an appreciable part of the burden upon the press itself in the operation of the throw-off mechanism and it provides for a relative movement and disposition of press parts in the throwing off operation, whereby such movement-of the parts is easily effected and readily accommodated in a well designed structure.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a printing press of the socalled Gordon type illustrated with the bed closed and equipped with a throw-off mechanism embodying our invention, said mechanism being shown in position occupied under normal printing conditions; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, the throw-off mechanism being shown in the position occupied thereby when the press is thrown 011 to prevent the printing form in the bed from contacting with the platen; Fig. 3 is a side elevational View of the press shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the bed thereof open, the throw-off mech- I anism being shown in solid lines in the impresm sion position of the press and in dotted lines in thrown off position of the press; Fig. 4 is a rear elevational view of the press with the parts in that relation shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional View taken on line5-5 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a sectional View in detail taken as on the line 66 of Fig. 4 and illustrating particularly the lever and linkagesystem of our present improvement, the various parts thereof being shown in the relation occupied in the impression position of the press; Fig. '7 is a View similar to Fig. 6, the parts being shown in the relation occupied when the press is in its thrown off position; Fig. 8 is a perspective View of the lower portion of the handled throw-01f lever and Fig. 9 is a perspective View of the intermediate lever of our improved mechanism.

Reference being had to the annexeddrawings, wherein similar reference characters are used to designate similar parts throughout the several views, it will be observed that the illustrated press is of the familiar Gordon type in which a platen 10 is rockably supported on a frame 11. An oscillatory bed 12 which carries the printing form, swings on a bed shaft 13 mounted in the base of the frame 11 at the rear thereof. A back shaft 14, rockably mounted in the bed structure, is formed atits ends with-eccentric studs 15, side arms 16 being connected therewith and to crank 17 on the front shaft 18 of the press for imparting a rocking movement to the bed 12. Oscillating ink roller frames 19 mounted on the back shaft 14, are equipped with the usual spring retracted rods 20 which carry the familiar ink roller saddles 21 for the ink rollers 22 of the press. These roller frames 19 are tied to the main frame 11 of the press through side links 23 which cause said roller frames 19 to oscillate on the back shaft 14 as the bed 12 rocks back and forth, such oscillation of the roller frames 19 being effected, as is well known, to move the inking rollers 22 up and down across the inking disk or plate 24 and the printing form on the bed 12.

Prior throw-off mechanisms have included an arm issuing from the back shaft for turning the same, the equivalent of such arm being represented by the arm 25 in the present structure. In such prior mechanisms, links and levers variously combined and arranged have served the same purpose, generally, as in the present construction, for turning the back shaft and disposing the same angularly in different positions, one position in which the eccentric studs on the back shaft are located on center relative to the back shaft proper and the cranks of the press, thus completely closing the bed upon the platen and causing an impression to be taken, and another position in which the eccentric studs are shifted into an off center relationship to avoid the complete closing of the bed against the platen and thereby prevent the taking of an impression. Aside from the mere positioning of the back shaft to cause or to prevent the taking of an impression, the prior throw-off mechanisms have been objectionable in numerous particulars. For example, winking of the back shaft has been experienced in greater or lesser degree during the normal printing operation, such condition resulting in unnecessary wear, particularly of the back shaft and the bearings therefor. Another objectionable feature in the prior mechanisms resides in the arrangement of parts in the link and lever system, wherein movement is imparted to the back shaft in such direction as to cause a progressive movement of press parts when the press is thrown off upon the closing of the bed. In such movement of the press parts, the normal relative position of the roller frame is changed and against the action of the roller rod springs, such change being necessarily effected by energy employed through the mechanism for turning the back shaft. Under these conditions, excessive effort is required in throwing off the press. Furthermore, in changing the relative relationship of the inking rollers upon the throwing off of the press, the normal limits of the: cycle of said rollers are also changed, such changes occurring in a manner attended with difficulties in press design.

While our present invention, as in mechanisms of like character, contemplates the throwing off of the press as the bed swings toward the platen in its closing throw, we provide in our improvement for minimizing the relative shifting of press parts out of their normal relationship and we further provide for placing upon the press itself a substantial part of the burden encountered in effecting the throwing off of the press.

The above enumerated advantages which reside in our improved mechanism result from the peculiar combination and arrangement of parts in the link and lever systems which will now be described in detail.

Pivoted to the left side of the press frame 11 at a point forwardly of and approximately at the same elevation as the bed shaft 13 is a lever 26, certain details of which are clearly shown in Fig. 9. Said lever 26 is formed at its inner side with a boss 27 having an axial bore 28 which receives a pivot stud 29 issuing from the press frame 11, the said inner side of said lever, near the free end thereof, being recessed by an undercut to provide an arcuate stop shoulder 30 for engagement with the end portion of the bed shaft 13. This lever 26 is connected with the arm 25 on the back shaft 14 through the medium of a link 31, the connection between said link 31 and lever 26 consisting of a stud bolt 32 passing through said link 31 and threaded into said lever 26. The axis of said pivot or stud bolt 32 is concentric with the arcuate stop shoulder 30 on the lever 26 and is brought into coincidence with the axis of the bed shaft 13 when the lever 26 is swung downwardly and rearwardly (Figs. 1 and 6) into position with said stop shoulder 30 in engagement with the bed shaft 13. In this depressed position of said lever 26, the back shaft 14 is held by the link 31 and arm 25 fixedly in its impression position with the axes of the eccentric studs 15 on center with respect to the axis of the back shaft proper and the axes of the crank pins 33 on the crank disks 17. Thus in the normal printing operation of the press, the back shaft 14 is rigidly held against angular movement, such movement being entirely precluded by reason of the coaxial relationship maintained between the pivot stud 31 and the bed shaft 13. As opposed to the above described depressed position of the lever 26, said lever assumes an erect position in which the pivot stud 32 is located above and forwardly of the bed shaft 13. Upon being swung into erect position, said lever 26, through link 31 and arm 25, turns the back shaft 14, swinging the eccentric studs 15 out of impression relation and thereby throwing off of the press. The joint provided between the lever 26 and link 31 has the character of a knee joint due to the formation of a stop lug 34 at the free end of said lever. This lug 34 is arranged to engage the link 31 upon the swinging of the lever 26 into upright position, wherein said link and lever assume a relation in which the axis of the stud screw 32 is but slightly past the plane common to the pivotal axis of the lever 26 and the axis of a pin 35 which pivotally connects said link 31, with the arm 25 on the back shaft 14. With said lever 26 and link 31 thus knee-jointed, they are releasably held in continuation of each other and have the effect of a unitary link between the frame 11 of the press and the arm 25 on the back shaft.

Suitable means are provided for shifting the lever 26, the particular means shown including a hand lever 36 pivoted at an intermediate point thereof on a pin 37 issuing from the frame 11 of the press, the handled upper end of said lever being conveniently accessible to the pressman. This hand lever 36 is connected at its lower portion with a link 38, said link being also connected with the lever 26. A pin 39 provides the connection between said hand lever 36 and link 38 and the previously described pivot stud 32 constitutes the connection between said link 38 and lever 26.

In throwing off the press the upper end of the hand lever 36 is thrust rearwardly (Fig. 2), the link 38, in such case, serving to pull the lever 26 into erect position and thus accomplish the throwing off operation. To again render the throw-off mechanism inoperative, the upper end of the hand lever 36 is pulled forwardly (Fig. 1), the link 38, in this case, serving to break the knee joint between the link 31 and lever 26 and swing said lever 26 rearwardly into its depressed position with the stop shoulder 30 thereof abutting the bed shaft 13. In thus positioning the lever 26, the back shaft 14 is turned to impression position where it is fixedly held by reason of the then maintained co-axial relationship between the bed shaft 13 and the pivot stud 31. The stop shoulder 30 on lever 26 engages the bed shaft 13 substantially at the time the axis of the pin 39, connecting the hand lever 36 and link 38, reaches the plane common to the axes of the pin 37 and the pivot stud 32. A lug 40 (Figs. 7 and 8) formed at the lower end of the hand lever 36 engages the link 38 just as the pin 39 passes said plane, the effect of a knee joint being thus given to the connection between the link 38 and hand lever 36, whereby the lever 26 is releasably held in position with its stop shoulder 30 against the bed shaft 13.

A spring is incorporated in ourlink and lever system for yieldingly holding in locked relation the knee joint between the hand lever 36 and link'38 and the similar joint between the lever 26 and link 31. This spring, designated by the numeral 41 and best seen in Figs. 6 and 7' is a compression spring, the same encircling a rod 42 pivoted at its upper end to the hand lever 36' and having a loose sliding fit in an apertured abutment bracket 43 secured to the frame 11 of the press. Said spring 41 is compressed between said abutment bracket 43 and a shoulder 44 on the rod 42 and, under compression, comes into effective play as the hand lever 36 passes center in either direction, the knee joint between said hand lever 36 and the link 38 being yieldingly locked (Figs. 1 and 6) when the press is thrown on by the mechanism and the knee joint between the lever 26 and link 31 being yieldingly locked (Figs. 2 and 7) when the press is thrown off.

With the press thrown on with our improved mechanism there is no interference whatever with the normal movement of any of the press parts. The back shaft 14 is fixedly held in impression position and the remaining parts of the press move through their normal cycles and in normal relation with respect to each other. In throwing off the press by hand, the operation is initiated by the pressrnan who smartly thrusts the upper handled end of the hand lever 36 rearwardly and, as is customary practice, at a time in the cycle of the press when the bed 12 is in an early stage of its closing swing. The rearward manual thrust of the hand lever 36 is of limited extent due to the locking of. the knee joint between the lever 26 and link 31 (dotted lines, Fig. 3), but is sufficient to swing the compression spring 41 past center andrender it effective in yieldingly keeping said joint locked. Attention is invited to the fact that the normal relation of the press parts is but slightly disturbed upon the rearward throw-off thrust of the hand lever 36 and, further, to the fact that such relative movement of said parts is a retrograde movement. Under these circumstances, the energy required to be used by the operator in throwing off the press is comparatively little, the operation in so far as the operator is concerned being quickly and easily accomplished. After the operator has initiated the throw off operation and thereby partially turned the back shaft 14, the press itself takes up the burden and completes the turning of the back shaft to shift the eccentric studs thereon out of impression relation. In this connection, it will be seen (dotted lines, Fig. 3) that the lever 26 and link 31 cooperate to thrust against and swing the arm 25 of the back shaft 14 as the bed 12 swings toward the platen 10. In disturbing the normal relationship of the press parts in the throwing off operation, the inking rollers 22 are caused to descend beyond the lower limit of their normal cycle, but stop short of their normal upper limit. These features are advantageous in that they simplify press design, it being desirable that the inking rollers clear the printing form,

on the downward throw of said rollers and that they do not pass their normal upper limit of movement.

The advantages of the throw off mechanism.

hereinbefore described apply in connection with automatic throw off construction such, for example, asdisclosed in the accompanying drawings of the bed 12. Attached to one end of this rock.

shaft is an arm 46 having a pin 47 therein, a shorter arm 48 being attached to the other end of said rock shaft 45. Under normal printing conditions, the pin 47 in said arm 46 moves freely back and forth in a slot 49 formed longitudinally of a trip bar 50. This bar 50, at its said slotted.

end, is slidably supported by a guide-rest 51 secured to a leg of the bed 12. The opposite or forward end of said bar 50 is also longitudinally slotted, as at 52, a transverse branch slot 53, communicating with said slot 52, being. formed in the bar 56 and adapted normally to receive a pin 54 in the hand lever 36, said pin 54 and branch slot 53 providing a pivotal connection between the trip-bar 50 and hand lever 36. A piston (not shown) is normally suspended in a hollow standard 55 (Fig. 4) by suction created for the feeding of sheets tothe platen. Through a lever 56 and link 57, as in the construction shown in said Patent No. 1,472,656, the rock shaft 45 is angularly stationed so that the pin 47 in arm 46 is held against dropping into a slot 58 branching downwardly from the rearward end of the slot 49 in the trip-bar 50. When the sheet feeding device fails to grasp a sheet at the supply pile, the rock shaft 45 is turned and the pin 47 in arm 46 thereby lowered into the branch slot 58 of the tripbar 50. This occurring, the hand lever 36 is automatically shifted by the bar 50 as the bed 12 swings toward-the platen, such movement of said lever throwing off of the press through the links 33, 31 and lever 26. As long as the feedingdevice fails to grasp a sheet to be printed, the hand. lever 36 is moved forth and back throwing the press off then on again at each cycle thereof. When a sheet to be carried to the platen is grasped by the feeding device, the arm 46 is swung upwardly and the pin 47'dislodged from the branch slot 58 in the tie bar 50. Thus freed from the rocking bed, the tie-bar 50 remains stationary with the hand lever 36 in position (Fig. 1), wherein the throw-off mechanism is inoperative.

In the throwing off of the press through automatic tripping means connected with the hand lever 36, our throw-off mechanism operates to the same advantage as in the throwing off of the press by hand. In either case, the lever 26 is swung into position locking the knee joint between it and the link 31 during the initial closing movement of the bed, at Which point in the cycle of the press, a minimum disturbance of the press parts occurs as a result of the throwing off operation.

Connected with a hand piece 59 pivoted to the handled end of the lever 36 is a trip rod 60, the lower end thereof being turned through a slot 61 in the hand lever 36 and forming a finger 62 by means of which the forward end of the trip-bar 50 may be elevated preparatory to the manual actuation-of the lever 36. With said trip-bar 50 elevated by said finger 62, the pin 54 in the hand lever 36 is released from the branch slot 53 and said lever, instead of being pivotally connected with the trip-bar 50, is then free to swing independently thereof with the pin 54 sliding freely in the longitudinal slot 52 in said bar.

Changes in the specific form of our invention,v

as herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, what We claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. In combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein, and side arms eccentrically con-- nected with the back shaft, of throw-01f mechanism adapted to hold said back shaft in impression position and to rock said shaft from such position to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including an arm on the back shaft and a pair of knee jointed elements, one pivotally connected with said arm and the other with the press frame, the joint between said elements in their broken relation being disposed in axial alignment with the axis of the bed, and, in their extended relation, in an elevated position forwardly of said axis, such elements being adapted, upon being shifted into their extended relation, to turn the back shaft from impression position and, in such extended relation, to continue such turning of the back shaft as the bed of the press closes, said elements being further adapted, upon being shifted back into their broken relation, to turn the back shaft back into impression position, a lever swingably mounted on the press frame, a link having a knee jointed connection with said lever and a pivotal connection with one of said knee jointed elements, said lever and link serving to shift said elements from one of said relations thereof to the other, yielding means acting upon said lever, at either side of an intermediate position, and serving to releasably lock the connection between said elements in their extended relation and similarly lock the connection between said lever and link for releasably holding said elements n their said broken relation.

2. The combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein, and side arms eccentrically connected with the back shaft, of throw-off mechanism adapted to hold said back shaft in impressi'on position and to rock said shaft from such position to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including an arm on the back shaft and a pair of knee jointed elements, one pivotally connected with said arm and the other with the press frame, the joint between said elements in their broken relation being disposed in axial alignment with the axis of the bed, and, in their extended relation, in an elevated position forwardly of said axis, said elements being adapted, upon being shifted into their extended relation, to turn the back shaft from impression position, and in such extended relation, to continue such turning of the back shaft as the bed of the press closes, said elements being further adapted, upon being shifted back into their broken relation, to turn the back shaft back into impression position, a lever swingably mounted on the press frame, a link having a connection with said lever and a connection with one of said knee jointed elements, one of said link connections being knee jointed, said lever and link serving to shift said elements from one of said relations thereof to the other and to lock the same in their said broken relation.

3. The combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein, side arms eccentrically connected with the back shaft, and a tripping member, of throw-off mechanism adapted to hold said back shaft in impression position and to rock said shaft from such position to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including an arm onthe back shaft and a pair of elements pivotally connected together, one thereof being pivotally connected with said arm and the other with the press frame, the connection between said elements in extreme broken relation thereof lying in axial alignment with the axis of the bed, and, in extreme extended relation, lying in an elevated position forwardly of saidv axis, said elements being adapted, upon being shifted into their extended relation, to thrust and turn the back shaft from impression position and, in such extended relation, to continue to thrust and turn the back shaft as the bed of the press closes, said elements being further adapted, upon being shifted back into their broken relation, to turn the back shaft back into impression position, and means actuated by said tripping member of the press for shifting the said throw-01f elements from one relation thereof to the other.

4. The combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein, and side arms eccentrically connected with the back shaft, of throw-off mechanism adapted to hold said back shaft in impression position and to rock said shaft from such position to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including an arm on the back shaft and a pair of knee jointed elements, one pivotally connected with said arm and the other with the press frame, the joint between said elements in their broken relation being disposed in axial alignment with the axis of the bed, and, in their extended relation, in an elevated position forwardly of said axis, said elements being adapted, upon being'shifted into their extended relation, to turn the back shaft from an impression position and, in such extended relation, to continue such turning of the back shaft as the bed of the press closes, said elements being further adapted, upon being shifted back into their broken relation to turn the back shaft back into impression position.

5. The combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein, and side arms eccentrically connected with the back shaft, of throw-off mechanism for rocking said shaft to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including a link connected with the back shaft, and a movable member having a pivotal connection with said link, said member being movable in one direction to turn the back shaft into its impression position and to shift said connection into substantial axial coincidence with the axis of the bed shaft, said bed shaft constituting a limit stop for arresting such movement of said member, a hand lever, a link interposed between said lever and said member, said last link and lever serving to move said member forth and back and to releasably lock it in position wherein said shaft is effective as a limit stop.

6. In combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein, and side arms eccentrically connected with the back shaft, of throw-off mechanism adapted to hold said back shaft in impression position and to rock said shaft from such position to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including an arm on the back shaft and a pair of knee-jointed elements, one pivotally connected with said arm and the other with the press frame, said elements being foldable from an extended relation into a broken relation, a stop on the press proper engageable by one of said elements for limiting the folding thereof, a lever swingably mounted on the press frame, a link having a knee-jointed connection with said lever and a pivotal connection with one of said elements, said lever and link serving to shift said elements from one of said relations thereof to the other, yielding means acting upon said lever, at either side of an intermediate position, and serving to releasably lock the kneejoint between said elements in their extended relation and similarly lock the knee-joint between said lever and link for releasably holding said elements in their said broken relation with the one thereof in engagement with said stop.

7. In combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein, and side arms eccentrically connected with the back shaft, of throw-off mechanism adapted to hold said back shaft in impression position and to rock said shaft from such position to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including an arm secured to the back shaft, a pair of elements connecting said arm with the press frame, one being a lever pivoted on said frame and the other a link joining said lever with said arm, means for swinging the lever, said elements being foldable upon the swinging of said lever in one direction to bring the joint between said elements into axial alignment with the bed, limit means for stopping said lever in position with said joint thus disposed, said elements being adapted to be shifted into extended relation upon the swinging of said lever in a reverse direction and being self-locking when thus disposed, the shifting of said elements into extended relation serving to impart an initial thrust to said arm and thereby inaugurate the turning of the back shaft from impression position and serving further to continue its thrust against said arm to further turn the back shaft as the bed of the press closes.

8. In combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein, and side arms eccentrically connected with the back shaft, of throw-01f mechanism adapted to hold said back shaft in impression position and to rock said shaft from such position to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including linkage consisting of two members pivoted together, one thereof being pivoted to the frame and the other connected with the back shaft of the press for turning the same, said linkage being shiftable into a folded relation to turn the back shaft into impression position and at the same time to dispose the joint between said members in axial alignment with the axis of the bed and being further shiftable into an extended relation to turn the back shaft out of impression position, a stop on the press proper to limit the folding of the linkage, said members cooperating to releasably lock themselves in extended relation, and means for shifting the linkage, said means comprising self locking members serving in locked relation to releasably secure the folded linkage against its limit stop.

9. In combination with a platen printing press having an oscillatory bed, a back shaft journaled therein and side arms eccentrically connected with the back shaft, of throw-off mechanism adapted to hold said back shaft in impression position and to rock said shaft from such position to prevent the making of an impression, said mechanism including an arm on the back shaft and knee-jointed elements, one pivotally connected with said arm and the other with the press frame, said elements being foldable from an extended self-locking relation into a broken relation, a stop on the press proper engageable by one of said elements for limiting the folding thereof, a hand lever swingably mounted on the press frame, a link having a knee-jointed, connection with said hand lever and a connection with one of said knee-jointed elements, said lever and link serving in their self-locking relation -to lock said elements in their broken relation with the one thereof against said stop.

ABEL KLUGE. ENEVAL KLUGE. 

